baby clinic says my baby needs to lose weight!

[lovezara]

Hello mums! I'm newly registered here so please give me time to adjust on how the whole forum works. I've been a regular reader for a while reading threads that relate to me.

So i'm a first time mum and loving it. I have a 6 month and 2 week girl.
so i've payed a visit to the baby clinic today morning and got out of there extremely upset and worried. my little girl is quite big, although i should first tell you that her father is 6ft tall and extremely big boned, his family's babies so far all have been big babies so naturally she has chubbiness n her genes. She is currently in the 95 to 98th percentile weight on their charts, she weighs 9.3/4kg.

the health advisor told me that i feed her too much and should decrease her formula intake to 18 oz a day. she currently has 5 6oz a day (although she usually doesn't finish them) and 3 meals a day, breakfast lunch and fruit for desert. She told me keep her meals the same but give her about 4 3 oz milk a day but for her to be ruler dilute the bottle with however much water i want.

I just think that's a bit too extreme but i also don't want my baby to stay like this and also she still doesn't sit up and hasn't rolled over yet, so that worries me a lot!!

the health advisor thinks her development is being delayed due to her weight and told me if she hasn't lost weight from now to 6 weeks she'll refer her to a dietician. I'm extremely worried and really don't know what to do!!

Sorry for the long post but hope i get some advise on what to do, currently i'm thinking of just following her advise and see what happens??

Sorry Randall but that's just not true. Babies can be overfed, research shows they can be persuaded to take more from a bottle than they need/want. Not vomitting isn't proof that a baby isn't overfeeding. Overfeeding is a risk of bottle feeding regardless of whether it is formula or ebm, and is one of the reasons that bottle fed babies are on average heavier than breastfed babies.

Now, I'm not suggesting for a second that you overfed your baby, but just because you didn't do it doesn't mean it is impossible, or even unlikely.

Oh whatever. I'm getting really annoyed now but arguing isn't helpful to the op who asked for different people's views.

You have yours , I have mine.

I'm not in the slightest bit worried that I over-fed my baby and am not the least bit defensive about it.

New mothers reading this type of thread however don't need it to be used to give them another reason to feel guilty about ff'ing.

Could you post a link to that research, Sam?

Sure, here's some papers that have been posted before:
Key Issues to Address With Bottle-Feeding
Pediatric Nursing, Jan, 2001
? a discussion among paediatricians and others in the US which highlights need for parents to be aware of overfeeding.

Feeding Patterns in Breast-Fed and Formula-Fed Infants.
Seivers et al.
Ann Nutr Metab 2002;46:243-248

• highlights difficulty of true ?demand feeding? in a formula fed baby and the difficulty in matching intake with need.

Mode of infant feeding and achieved growth in adolescence: early feeding patterns in relation to growth and body composition in adolescence.
Tulldahl J et al.
Obes Res. 1999 Sep;7(5):431-7.
?our results imply that formula fed infants may be at risk for overfeeding, which might lead to overweight, even up to adolescent age?

Do Infants Fed From Bottles Lack Self-regulation of Milk Intake Compared With Directly Breastfed Infants?
Li et al.
Pediatrics, June 2010

• This paper answers ?yes? to this question and interestingly, looks at bottle feeding with ebm, as well as formula, and concludes that the same risk applies.

Mothers' experiences of bottle-feeding: a systematic review of qualitative and quantitative studies.
Lakshman et al.
Archives Disease in Childhood, July 2009

Randall - I don't think this is about making anyone feel guilty Surely it is important to be aware of any risks in baby feeding though in order to make informed choices?

Wow that's very comprehensive but as I'm on maternity leave and don't have an ATHENS login I suppose I will just have to take your word for it!

I have zero interest in entering into a bf vs ff debate. Never have never will.

How someone else feeds their baby has nothing to do with me and I would never presume to comment. I don't have the arrogance.

New mothers have enough to feel guilty about. Why anyone feels the need to patronise I will never know as I have no desire to feel superior to anyone.

Clearly you are very pro bf, that's great, it was obviously the best choice for you and your baby. Don't preach though. It's not nice.

Massive apologies for the hijack op.

Ignore the bickering and just take whatever advice you feel is relevant to you.

This motherhood's a tricky business

I haven't mentioned bf

Hi, I know this thread is old but I want reassure you, my son Dalton is 6 months old, he is a big boy, weighing 21 pounds, birth weight was 8lb5oz, he has recently started solids, without solids he will normally have five 7oz bottles a day, with solids he will have a 7oz bottle in the morning, 3 hours later he will have porridge and 5 oz of milk but doesn't really drink all the milk, for lunch he will have mixed veg, maybe a yoghurt and another 5 oz bottle but again doesn't drink it all, for tea and bedtime he will drink his usual 7oz no solids, he rolls on his belly and has recently managed to roll back, he doesn't sit up either unless supported and that's it he doesn't do much else but flap his arms and legs I was worried about his weight, health visitor is not worried because he has maintained the same percentile which I think is 98, she has never suggested changing his diet or feeding him less, because once he starts crawling the weight gain will slow down or he may even lose a little. You can't put a baby on a diet they are supposed to gain weight, my little chunk is very active and happy. As long as you are happy and your baby is happy and well, then don't worry to much, having a chunky monkey doesn't mean they will be chunky when they are older, I get great cuddles from little boy, gp and health visitors are not worried about his weight so I'm not bothered about it anymore, this thread is quite old so I hope your little one is well and your not too worried now.

HV is talking bollocks

someone has to be 95 or above centile, that's the point

And yes, DS was/ is one of them

I was told at about 6 months that he was a good advert for breastfeeding.

Oh it's a zombie thread

You know this child is now 7 right @Lenawasley